My personal take on these popular pairings. (This fic also pokes a little fun at Nali fics that write Natsu and Lisanna OOC.)
Lucy Heartfilia let out a sigh of both annoyance and amusement as she took in the all-too familiar state of Fairy Tail: noise, ruckus and the occasional bar-fights that would start up again when one of the mages was insulted, especially if your name was Gray or Natsu.
An outsider wouldn't know from watching, but the guild's frenzied and partying state was due to the fall of the Balam Alliance. Only a week ago had Fairy Tail, with assistance from Sabretooth, bought down the dark guild Tartaros and foiled their plot to unseal Face. Though many of the mages suffered dire wounds, Lucy, among others, was just relieved everyone was still alive. And yet here Fairy Tail was, celebrating for days without end as if nothing had happened.
Only Lucy didn't feel like partying. Instead, her eyes simply drifted through the guild, watching the usual state of things. She spotted Gajeel and Levy in a corner, obviously speaking a tone low enough so others couldn't hear. Her eyes then darted to Juvia attempting to hold Gray back from instigating another fist-fight, this time with Elfman. Finally, her eyes wandered to the edge of the bar that she sat at.
There, Natsu was seen conversing and occasionally laughing with Happy, Wendy, Carla and Lisanna.
Was it just Lucy, or did Natsu and Lisanna seem to be spending more and more time together as the days, weeks, months went on?
After Lisanna had returned from Edolas, Lucy had no difficulty in understanding why the entire guild had swarmed the girl in affection, questions and above all, attention. But then the celebrations died down, and with one of its dearest members having returned, the guild soon returned to normal…except for Natsu. (At least, that's what Lucy thought.)
It seemed to be that everytime Lucy would find herself around Natsu and Lisanna, it would be these moments that Lucy would hear Natsu laugh at something Lisanna had told him, or see Lisanna gleefully grab and tug at his arm like she would do when she was younger.
And truth be told, it would be these moments that made Lucy, to say the least, uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable, as in, she would feel like someone had given her a light kick in the stomach when she would see the two of them together.
Uncomfortable, as in, she felt the need to avert her eyes, as if she might break down and try to stifle an angry moan if she had to keep watching the two.
Uncomfortable, as in, she wanted to be the girl on his arm.
Since the war against Phantom Lord, Lucy had been left with no doubt that Natsu cared genuinely for her. And she could definitely say the same for him. Then as the months passed, finally culminating with the end of the Grand Magic Games, Lucy had to face the fact that she no longer cared for Natsu just as her nakama.
She was in love with the dense dragonslayer.
Her feelings hadn't happened overnight; rather, she had finally decided that she couldn't possibly find another person better to fall in love with then the one who she cared for so immensely and even trusted with her own life.
Unfortunately, there were several factors that kept Lucy from coming out with her feelings then and there. For one, Fairy Tail had this peculiar habit of stepping in and saving Earthland from whatever new threat would seem to arise, and so, her duties as a mage would become first priority.
Second, Natsu was about as dense as you could get, so even if Lucy could work up some courage to confess to Natsu, she also held a string of worry that her words would go right over his head.
And finally, there was Lisanna. Not that Lucy didn't like Lisanna, she found her very friendly actually, it just bothered her to think that she may end up losing Natsu to another girl. Sure she knew Natsu was dense, but if she didn't make her move, it would only be a matter of time before Lisanna, or even some other girl, was able to penetrate Natsu's hard-head and open him up to the benefits of having a relationship.
To make matters worse, with every day Lucy failed to confess to Natsu, her feelings would continue to bottle up inside her, keeping her awake at night, and filling her head with the most absurd of fears and anxieties. For example, she had been scared awake from a nightmare in where Lisanna had convinced Natsu to kick her off the team for being too 'weak'. Of course, Lucy knew Natsu would never do such a thing, but the dream had still left her rattled inside.
"Something wrong Lucy?" a voice interrupted her from her thoughts.
Lucy turned to see Mirajane looking at her thoughtfully. Lucy felt tempted to tell someone about what was troubling her, but then the feeling passed and she forced a small grin onto her face.
"No, just a little bored what with sitting here all day." Lucy lied.
Mira stared for a second, as if trying to read Lucy's expression, but then returned the grin and nodded towards the Request Board.
"Well if you're bored, you can always look for a mission to take." Mira then turned and gave a small chuckle. "As a matter of fact…"
Lucy turned and followed Mira's gaze to see Natsu, Gray, Erza, Happy…and Lisanna approaching her.
"Lucy!" Happy called, fluttering towards her.
"You're not gonna believe this Luce!" Natsu grinned, waving a flyer in her face. "3,000,000 jewels, all for stopping one band of smugglers! We gotta take this!"
Lucy's eyes widened at the mention of the prize money. "Three million? Just for that?"
"Assuming flame-brain here doesn't wipe out the village in the process." Gray smirked, shortly before he was smacked from the back of the head by Erza, already taking no nonsense from her teammates.
Natsu let the insult slide and turned back to Lucy. "Oh, and Lisanna wanted to tag along with us." he said, somewhat sheepishly.
"You don't mind, do you Lucy?" Lisanna said, in her cheerful manner.
"It's just, she's never been on a mission with our team and she wanted to see us in action." Natsu admitted.
"We are the strongest team after all!" Happy put in.
Lucy paused for a second, for she felt as if Lisanna was intruding on something personal to her. But like she had done with Mira, she forced another grin.
"Sure, by all means!" she replied chirpily.
Natsu's ecstasy for the mission wasn't without purpose; the mission had called for a team of mages to defeat a group of bandits attempting to smuggle hordes of illegal lacrima that granted artificial powers. Needless to say, Team Natsu hadn't had any trouble bringing the smugglers to justice, and even better, Natsu had done little damage to the surrounding village, meaning that Lucy would get her share of the prize money that would be more than enough to pay rent for the next few months.
However, because the village they had traveled to was so far north of Fiore, the team had decided to camp out for the night, until the trains were running in the following morning.
As the team set up camp in the nearby woods, Lucy grumbled internally as she watched Lisanna continue to marvel over Natsu's fire magic, which was now being to use to light a bundle of logs, setting up their campfire. All throughout the mission, Lisanna had stayed by Natsu's side, giving him more than enough encouragement to complete a mission he could've otherwise succeeded in without.
Lucy knew she could be considered by some selfish for growing bitter over who Natsu spent his time with. By now, her feelings were at the risk of being spilled to the next person she came in contact with, and she began to fear that tonight would be another restless night for her, even more so knowing that Natsu and Lisanna would be sleeping so close nearby.
For a while, Lucy sat on the edge of a log, staring intently into the blazing fire, as if hoping to find an answer to her problem within the flames. After what felt like hours, Lucy sat up, only to see Lisanna asleep from across the flames, Erza departing into her tent, and Gray saying something about getting more fireword before disappearing into the woods.
So now it was just her, and Natsu, who sat down next to her and let out a sigh that spelt his exhaustion. Despite such, Lucy sensed that Natsu was feeling uncomfortable for some reason, so she decided to make conversation.
"Rough day, huh?" Lucy grinned.
"What do you mean? You were kicking butt as much as the rest of us!" Natsu replied.
"Compared to you, the rest of us are just baggage." Lucy said. "I'm pretty sure you could've taken this whole mission on your own and had no trouble."
"But where's the fun in that?" Natsu grinned, baring his signature tooth-filled grin.
Lucy had to admit that he had a point, hence the reason why she had never taken a mission solo either; it was always more fun to have company by your side.
The two sat in silence again before Lucy suddenly felt her heart thumping loudly. As much as she would like to make excuses, she knew that there was no time better than now to try and tell Natsu how she felt. Summoning new courage, she started a new conversation.
"Natsu, have you ever dated anyone?" she said, hoping her voice didn't sound too meek.
Natsu continued to stare in thought, as if he hadn't even heard the question, but then replied "Date? You mean see someone for a week and then never hear from them again, like you?" he said, his grin returning.
"I can very well manage a relationship for more than a week Natsu!" Lucy spat, beginning to wonder if this was a good idea after all.
But Natsu continued. "I dunno, I just never found time for it. I'm too busy with other stuff, like saving the world with you guys!"
"But if you did find the time," Lucy said before pausing, "would you?"
Lucy was too invested now to worry about how urging her questions may sound. Natsu gave her a confused look.
"Why the sudden interest?" he quizzed.
Lucy suddenly felt irritated, her emotions now all over the place, ranging from affection to curiosity to frustration, and back again. And to top it all off, she was losing confidence and patience with Natsu's witless responses.
"I was just curious, Mavis, you don't have to act so defensive over everything!" Lucy growled, before turning back towards the campfire.
Natsu must've caught on to her anger because he kept the conversation going.
"Hey, you alright?" he asked.
"I'm fine." Lucy huffed.
Natsu began to grin again and poked her playfully. "Luce, you know you can't hide anything from me."
"There's nothing to hide Natsu."
Natsu scooted closer to her.
"Tell me!"
"Forget it."
"Luce!"
"Just drop it!"
Natsu then cupped Lucy's head in his hands and turned her to face him. Lucy was a little shocked to see he now looked concerned.
"Luce, you can tell me anything, why should you have to be afraid? What do you have to be afraid of?" he said, his voice now just above a whisper.
For a moment, Lucy couldn't find her voice. Instead, she merely relished in the feeling of having Natsu hold her so close to him, wishing she could just be frozen in this state. But then, the words she had longed to divulge to Natsu found their way out.
"Natsu, I'm – I think I'm in love with you." She whispered back.
For a moment, Natsu said nothing and sat back, his eyes narrowing almost as if Lucy had just spoken something obvious. Lucy could feel her whole body trembling, hoping for anything to break this awkward silence.
"I know." He finally said.
"WHAT?" she yelled in confusion.
"I mean…I always kinda knew there was this…bond, well, stronger bond between us. I just didn't know how to put it in exact words." He admitted.
The long silence returned as the two averted their gaze from each other, attempting to focus on everything else around them. Finally, Natsu spoke up again, returning his gaze to Lucy.
"Luce, why do people date?" he asked.
Lucy was somewhat taken aback by Natsu's question, but decided to answer him anyway, speaking from experience.
"Well…I guess when you get right down to it, they date to find someone special that they can spend their time with, and fall in love with, and…marry once they decide they want to spend the rest of their lives with that person." Lucy said before realizing exactly what Natsu put together seconds later.
"Luce…is that what you want with me?" Natsu asked, putting the pieces together.
Though that was true, Lucy hadn't expected Natsu to catch on so quickly. But that was a good thing, right? Wait…was he blushing?
"Well…" Lucy began. Dammit, it shouldn't be this hard to talk to him. "Natsu, I can't expect you to just feel the same for me, even if it's out of pity." She finally said.
"But…what if I did feel the same?" Natsu said, leaning closer to her.
Lucy's head shot up, the fluttering in her stomach increasing tenfold, and her thoughts short-circuiting because Natsu wasn't making any sense.
"But…you have Lisanna." Lucy said.
"What?" Natsu's brow rose. "Where did you get that idea?"
"Well…you know, I always see her on your arm, always giving you encouragement, you're always laughing with her…"
"And you think that means I love her?" Natsu had to hold himself back from laughing. "I mean, I love her like I do anyone at Fairy Tail, but that's it. Truth be told, I think she's still holding onto her old childhood crush of me. But you, well, like I said, I feel like I have this stronger bond with you then I do with Gray, or Erza, or anyone!"
Lucy's mind grew frantic by the second, trying to piece Natsu's words together. She felt like her heart was going to jump right out of her chest, because it was beating like crazy!
"Natsu…you're saying that you…you…"
Natsu's grin seemed to remain as he closed to gap between him and Lucy and caught her lips with his. Lucy felt her entire face blush as Natsu's hands held the sides of her head and she immediately lost herself in the passion. It was as if this kiss summed up everything the two felt about each other, serving as a perfect catharsis to all their built-up feelings.
Natsu finally separated himself and drew back, still grinning at Lucy, whose blush never left her face. Lucy finally let some of her anxiety leave and let out a shaky laugh.
"Where did you learn to kiss like that?" she breathed.
Natsu said nothing, instead offering a slight shrug, and wearing a modest expression.
"All I know is that the guild's gonna flip when they hear about this." He smiled.
Lucy let her happiness show across her face, and leaned in to rest on Natsu's shoulder, returning her gaze to the roaring campfire.
"Seriously though," Natsu began again, "you're gonna have to guide me on our dates, I am clueless when it comes to that sort of stuff."
Lucy scoffed and turned to face him, her lips mere inches away from his again.
"Of all the people to fall in love with, I had to get the dense one." She moaned, but her words were laced with care and affection.
Natsu leaned in, about to make a snarky comeback until an all-too familiar voice filled the air.
"You liiiiiiiike each other!" Happy grinned, fluttering in the treetops just above them, having obviously seen it all.
This time though, Lucy let the annoyance pass as she closed her eyes and leaned into Natsu, whose arm had now wrapped around her. A warm feeling filled inside her, assuring her that she would no longer have to spend her nights awake, alone and in anxiety.
Call me a hopeless romantic, but I just love this pairing! The campfire scenario is basically something I could see taking place in the manga so I just played off that, and how Mashima might get these two together if he ever plans on it...